President Donald Trump is not known for being the brightest bulb in the tanning bed. The mandarin mogul is notorious for his not only his proud ignorance but also his difficulty in distinguishing fact from fiction, television rhetoric from reality, and friend from foe.
Which makes it unsurprising but still mind-blowing to learn that the White House staff has been scrambling to find out why the President of the United States called back a prank phone caller from Air Force One.
WH has been scrambling this morning to figure out how this happened. https://t.co/OnLDLmUK7t
— Annie Karni (@anniekarni) June 29, 2018
A Howard Stern associate known as “Stuttering John” prank-called the White House – and was stunned when he got a call back from the President himself, who presumably wanted to find out why his refrigerator was running and where it might be going with his Diet Cokes.
I find it astounding that the news media's not picking up the fact that I totally duped the President & got in touch within in less than 2 hours while he was on Air Force One. Shame on, NBC/, CNN & Huffington Post. I gave them a news story on their laps.
— John Melendez (@stutteringjohnm) June 29, 2018
Melendez got the President to think he was disgraced Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey, who was indicted on federal corruption charges in 2015 but somehow still retains his seat in Congress.
“You went through a tough, tough situation. And I don’t think a very fair situation, but congratulations” said Trump to “Bob.”
Turning the subject to immigration, “Bob” asked him what he could tell his constituents moving forward, and the President gave him the whole spiel:
So Bob, let me just tell you: I want to be able to take care of the situation every bit as much as anyone else, at the top level,’ replied President Trump.
‘I’d like to do the larger solution rather than the smaller solution; they’re doing them step by step. I think we can do the whole thing.’
I have a good relationship with the party, you have a good relationship with the party, and I think we could do a real immigration bill. We have to have security at the border, we have to have it. I mean, look, you’ve got 60 percent of the country, they’ve got to have security at the border.
‘And that’s a good excuse for the Democrats too, Bob. It’s not like, it’s good for you or good for me, it’s good for both of us … I’m tired of the problem. So Bob, here’s what – let me do this, I’m on Air Force One, uh, I’m just coming back from an amazing rally in North Dakota, actually.’
Melendez said that he had put on an accent and pretended to be the Senators assistant – and not only did the White House switchboard operator believe him, the call was screened through several senior White House officials, including Jared Kushner – meaning that he duped nearly the entire administration before tricking the president into calling him back.
It’s deeply upsetting to know that as the horrifying massacre at the Capital Gazette in Annapolis, Maryland, was unfolding, the President was on Air Force One on the phone with a comedian for a podcast – and that the entire White House is so dumb that they allowed it to happen.
Listen to it here. if you must:
https://twitter.com/amsterdon/status/1012442740565504000
